Coors Light Iced T – Molson Coors Canada

Okay, I can hear the groans, etc, already. And I know: flavoured beer, right? Come on. So before I give my review Coors Light Iced T, let me talk a bit about why, and a bit about the product. Stick with me, okay? First off, this is not a “craft” or “micro” beer by most people’s standards. It’s a light beer made by one of the big guys. That being said, Molson Coors have done really well working with Creemore, and Granville Island, and news coming out of the Six Pints camp is sounding promising. So I like to support them when I can. To be fair, I’m not really a consumer of light beers flavoured with whatever. My response to the ones I’ve had has ranged from unoffended to grossed-out. Indeed, I don’t even like drinking light lagers. If I fancy a “light” beer, I’ll normally choose a mild or best bitter. But I do like iced tea, and had a nice invite to the tasting, so thought I would go along and see what’s up. So the beer: It’s Coors Light, which is a flagship brand for Molson Coors, blended in the brewing process with tea and lemons. The brewmasters did a heap of research and trials, working with different types of tea and lemons, and in different combinations. They had a taste profile they were looking for. Once they got where they were aiming, they started consumer testing, and continued tweaking. As you’ll read below, where the ended up is not a bad place. The beer will be launched only in Canada to start, and of course will be here in time for summer (though, based on the weather today, it’s already late….).

Not sure if this one is Rocky Mountain cold....

From an interesting 355ml can that looks like a small tallboy (tall and narrow), the beer pours a brilliantly clear yellow hinting at orange in the centre; darker than your average light lager. A bit of fuzzy head drops pretty quickly, but a pretty active carbonation keeps the surface moving through the whole glass. The aroma is black tea and what I thought were limes, but am told are lemons. Basically, it smells like a glass of iced tea. The taste is also very much like black iced tea, but nowhere near as sugary sweet as a commercially made bottle of iced tea. There is some sweetness, but it’s very balanced by the dry tea and with a little tang of lemon. What really surprised me, was that there was a hint of grainy sweetness on the back of the palate, showing that underneath the iced tea, there is some beer there too. There was also no discernible corn flavour that I could detect, which was a pleasant surprise as well. Obviously, if you like iced tea, you can drink Coors Light Iced T all day on a hot patio or sitting on a dock. It’s not complicated, but certianly could refresh you. I still would rather sit back with a crisp hoppy pale ale, but as I’ve mentioned to people, I wouldn’t flinch if somebody handed my a Coors Light Iced T at a BBQ or sitting on the deck at a cottage. I still don’t really love the concept of flavoured light beers (why not just drink a cocktail if you don’t like the taste of beer?), but of the lot out there that I’ve tried, this one is the most palatable.

Synopses? Not up my alley as it isn’t really, ummmm, “beery” (I really really like beer without juices, teas, etc), definitely a “macro” produced beer, but tasty in it’s way if you like iced tea (I do), and less sugary than I expected. I have no doubt it’s marketing will be everywhere: TV, patio umbrellas, attractive people in khakis and white polo shirts at events, etc, so you’ll probably get to know the brand soon enough. I also have no doubt that Molson Coors will sell enormous volumes of this.

Cheers to Molson Coors, thanks for the invite!

About The Brewery

Molson Coors Canada is the Canadian division of Molson Coors Brewing Company, a global brewer with operations in Canada, the U.S., U.K and Asia. The Company proudly offers some of the most popular brands in Canada with an award-winning brand portfolio which includes Molson Canadian, Coors Light, Molson Export, Molson Dry, Rickard’s and Molson M. Molson also partners with other leading brewers to offer such global brands as Heineken, Corona, Miller Genuine Draft, and Foster’s Lager. Molson Coors Canada employs 3,000 Canadians, operates seven breweries, including boutique breweries Creemore and Granville Island, and invests in communities from coast-to-coast through its various charitable initiatives and sports and entertainment sponsorships. Molson Coors Canada is committed to promoting its products and events in a responsible manner as part of an active, healthy lifestyle.

thanks for taking the time to attend last week Chris, and for your time on the review. Glad you liked the sleek can – it’s an interesting change of pace that ends up being really popular in a lot of summer places (like golf courses).

One correction, Chris. As per the press release, the flavours are not added during the brewing process, but during the filtration process. In other words, if I may be allowed to conjecture, this is likely full strength — ie: high-gravity brewed — Coors Light watered down and flavoured during or immediately prior to packaging.

I got handed one at night thinking it was my regular brew. Thought someone was playing a joke on me! But, I am an iced tea drinker, and this didn’t suck !! Next day I was at the beer store buying more. Well done Molson-Coor’s. Very refreshing !

Been drinking beer all my life, since Coors Light Ice T came out I have not had any other. Absolutely love it, can’t refrain from buying it when at the liquor store buying some Vodka as if I drink beer on a daily basis my waste size grows.. It’s such a shame the beer is fatning, if not it would be my number one water source. LoL

Disgusting? perhaps you need your tongue checked or maybe you were hammered when you tried it? Let me guess, you are a whiskey drinker. I can understand not all of us have the same taste but to say it’s disgusting tells me that you have no idea and you should stick to the stronger stuff like maybe Moonshine… LoL